I'm using a coffee subscription right now, but it's specifically for small quantities of a variety of beans. There's a bit more of a curation element to it, and they do repackage the beans. It's not something Amazon would do, but it's low volume, and a competitive space.
In contrast, these box companies can buy stock that is months or even years old. I see it as a similar model to Poundland (Dollar stores?) – buying old or distressed stock for pennies on the dollar and reselling with margin. Timelines are much longer, batches are larger, there's just a lot more room for error on logistics, business relationships don't have to be as close.
Cartridge razors are such an enormous waste of money by comparison, and I can't even imagine needing a subscription for them.
They've been great for me, and have been the first and only brand of double-edged safety razor blades I've tried, so I have no point of comparison with other brands.
The opposite, marketing lower priced items because they have a lower price limits profit potential unless you have some technological advancement that really drives down cost.
There are 'visionaries', who want 'to change the world' and there are people who knows what they can start a business, make it profitable and then move on with profits.
Hayley Barna moved on in 2015.
If your choice is to 'change the world' then of course it's not 'optimal'.
But stupid jokes aside, I used razors (for my face) only in my teens and early twenties, after that I moved to trimmers and occasional 'canadian lumberjack' look out. Trimmer are good enough for the face, armpits and most of the bush. At this rate I measure the lifetime of (disposable BIC) razors in years.
Unlike taxis, there isn't a blitzscaling story here, either.
The problem was the razors just sucked.